What is SE PARC? Q&A with Dr. Spear

Q and A with Dr. Steve Spear on the Southeast Partners inAmphibian and Reptile Conservation Annual Meeting

For those that don’t know, what isthe goal of the Southeast PARC annual meeting?

The meeting aims to bring together people who have a commoninterest in reptile and amphibian conservation and to build partnerships among differentgroups and agencies including universities, federal agencies, state agencies,non-profit groups (like the Orianne Society), and industry. It combines research presentations with taskteams and workshops that emphasize working together to actively improveamphibian and reptile conservation

Have you been to the annual meeting before?

No, this was my first SE PARC meeting and I was quiteimpressed overall by the variety of topics covered and the energy of the taskteams and workshops In particular, Ishould acknowledge the hard work of Dr. JJ Apodaca (anOrianne Society collaborator at Florida StateUniversity) and the Orianne Society CEO, Dr. Chris Jenkins, who planned andorganized a successful meeting (editors note: stay tuned to href=”http://www.oriannesociety.org”>www.oriannesociety.org for Dr. Jenkins’ blog regarding the Caribbeansession of the SE PARC meeting).

My presentation involved extracting DNA from river water todetect the presence of hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) in Tennessee and Georgia. The successful use of this technique wouldprovide a low-cost and easier way for conservationists to identify rivers withhellbender populations. Our research hasshown that we can indeed find hellbender DNA (and therefore hellbenders) simplyby filtering water samples and laboratory testing. In fact, we found evidence of hellbender DNAin streams that we thought to have only one hellbender living in it! Additionally, we found hellbender DNA inseveral sites from which they were not previously known. Using water samples to survey for specieswill be useful for many aquatic species other than hellbenders, and I wasexcited to see the enthusiasm for the technique from many members of theaudience at the meeting. I anticipatethat this will become an important tool for managers trying to find locationsof rare amphibians and aquatic reptiles.

What other presentations did you find interesting?

There was a major session on Caribbean conservationorganized by Dr. Jenkins and Jen Stabile. The Caribbean is a relatively new frontier for SE PARC, and the sessionwas sponsored by the Orianne Society. The Caribbean has some of the highest reptile and amphibian diversity inthe world, and almost all of these species are endemic to the region. This means that they are found only in theCaribbean, and so extinctions in the Caribbean would lead to extinction for theentire species The keynote address, byFred Burton, addressed one such species, the blue iguana (Cyclura lewisi) of Grand Cayman Island. Fred discussed his efforts to develop arecovery program, and the important successes he has had both with protectingland and captive breeding. This is oneof the most imperiled reptile species on earth and much work remains to bedone, but thanks to the efforts of Fred and his colleagues there is optimismfor this species.

Several of the Caribbean presentations focused on theendangered amphibians of Puerto Rico and Haiti Puerto Rico is home to a wide variety of small frogs known as coquis, and they are a source of national pride for thisisland Unfortunately, the frogs aredeclining due to the chytrid fungus disease, which iswiping out many amphibian species BothDr. Patricia Burrowes and Dr. Rafael Joglar talked about this disease, and the role that climatechange may have in increasing the effect of the disease on frogs. In Haiti, it is extensive deforestation thatis endangering frogs, and Dr. Martinez Rivera discussed his work with partnersto both document Haitian frog biodiversity and protect the remainingforests Finally, Dr. Kent class=SpellE>Vliet gave a fascinating presentation on the biology of therare and threatened Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer).

Some other highlights included presentations on theinfluence of climate change on future herpetological populations, research on secretiveplethodontid (lungless)salamanders, disease, road ecology, and population genetics. The variety and quality of presentationtopics is a great demonstration of the strength of the SE PARC group and anexample of how the organization is tackling key conservation challenges.

Does SE PARC only focus on research?

No, in addition to sharing results of research andconservation actions, a key contribution of PARC is the development of taskteams to directly tackle conservation problems The current task teams include invasive species, disease,reintroduction/translocation, Gopher frog/Crayfish frog conservation,education/outreach, and priority amphibian and reptile conservation areas(PARCAs) I have been involved in thePARCA initiative and we presented some of our initial ideas of identifyingPARCAs at this meeting, which is described by JJ Apodaca in this issue. I also participated in the Gopherfrog/Crayfish frog task team at this meeting This is a very active group dedicated to identifying the current statusof these two species of threatened southeastern amphibians and priorities forfuture research and conservation. Atthis point, it was mostly a learning experience for me, but I was impressed byboth the size and enthusiasm of the group.

Two new working groups were also introduced at this meeting— a Hellbender working group and a Caribbean working group. Obviously, I was excited about the formationof the hellbender group and actively participated in the first meeting. We had discussions about the most importantchallenges for hellbender conservation and survival, and what some priorityareas may be for habitat management Ultimately, our initial tasks for this group were to develop a communicationlistserv for all members, and work toward education and outreach activities(videos, posters, educational signs) to show everyone these amazing creaturesthat are harmless, but often persecuted due to their large size. I look forward to the further development ofthis group.

Any final thoughts?

SE PARC is an exciting group, and we had an extremelyproductive meeting in two days I amlooking forward to continuing to be an active member of SE PARC and to meetingsin future years.

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